Boston cream pie. A pie made of white cake and custard filling or topping. If chocolate icing is added, it is called “Parker House chocolate pie,†after the Parker House in Boston, Massachusetts, where the embellishment was first contrived. The pie goes back to early American history, when it was sometimes called “Pudding-cake pie,†or, when made with a raspberry jelly filling, “Mrs. Washington’s pie,†The first mention of the dessert as “Boston cream pie†was in the New York Herald in 1855.â€
Monthly Archive for May, 2009
This recipe is perfect for a romantic dinner for two. Â I came up with it in 2005, while I was working on my thesis. Â The flavors are based on 18th century game recipes; Â the maple-vinegar glaze is important because it breaks up the gaminess of the meat.
Right: Spruce beer awaits, while a mint julep lurks in the background.
boil for 20 mins. Â Sanitize remaining tools.
Sugars will be 1 brown sugar cone (6oz) and approzimately 2.5oz pure
maple syrup.
Hops will be Northern Brewer pellets, .15oz for bittering, .1oz for flavoring.
#1728 scottish ale yeast, 1/2 pkt.
3/8 tsp spruce essence
Once water temp hit 170 deg, added ‘buckwheat packet’ to steep for 15
mins (don’t know if this will have any effect.) Â It was a tea bag
replaced with buckwheat flour to try to impart a grain flavor.
Bring back to boil, add bittering hops for 30 mins.
Add flavor hops for 10 mins to boil.
Add spruce essence for 5 mins to boil.
cool to 80 deg, slosh back and forth in fermenter.
Add yeast, cap.
-The hot break was seemingly endless, which was quite annoying. Â The
small batch makes for a lot of water loss, so I had to keep a lid on
it. Â But with a lid on it the pot foams up a lot, and then you take
the lid off and all the hops are stuck to the side of the pot. Â Then I
stir them back in and get another hot break, ad nauseum.
There was still a tremendous amount of fluid loss, probably 3/4 of the
pot boiled away. Â I used water that went through a pur filter and then
a britta pitcher to bring the volume full.
I used the scottish ale yeast because of its very forgiving
temperature range (55-75f.) Â Estimated beginning SG is around 1.05, I
expect a 70%
You are gonna love these balls.
This week, in my ongoing Jewish-American cooking project, Ilana and I are attempting Featherballs:
From The Intoxicologist is in:
“BACARDI®, the world’s number-one selling rum, today announced the launch of a new multi-media advertising and marketing campaign that emphasizes the brand’s 147-year history and rum making expertise. Featuring an all-new BACARDI Mojito television spot entiled “Eras,†the campaign seeks to convey the message that the best Mojitos are made with BACARDI, the innovative rum brand first used to make this legendary cocktail.”
Permit me to nerd out for a moment.
“Cuba is the birthplace of the mojito, although the exact origin of this classic cocktail is the subject of debate. One story traces the mojito to a similar 16th century drink, the “El Draque,†in honor of Sir Francis Drake. It was made initially with tafia/aguardiente, a primitive predecessor of rum, but as soon as Spanish rum became widely available to the British (ca. 1650) they changed it to rum.  Mint, lime and sugar were also helpful in hiding the harsh taste of this spirit. While this drink was not called a mojito at this time, it was still the original combination of these ingredients..”
So while a combination of ingredients similar to the mojito existed, in the 19th c. it was being drunk by the Cuban working class.  Definitely not Victorian tarts in spangly dresses.
I’ve also read that  “The earliest “mojito” recipes…found are from 1931 and 1936 editions of a Sloppy Joe’s Bar Manual.”  Sloppy Joe’s was a famous bar in Cuba, where Hemingway apparently popularized the drink.
Bacardi was founded in Cuba, and it was known for refining what was a previously unrefined drink. Â Rum was a dark pungent spirit; Bacardi classed it up by running it through a charcoal filter, creating a much lighter liqour appropriate for swanky bars.
And perhaps that’s what happened to the Mojito; it transformed from the rugged El Draque, to the gentile Mojito with the creation of Bacardi Rum.
Read up for yourself, and weigh in:
The History of the Cuban Mojito
Other Rum drinks from the 1860s:
P.S–Nothing personal against mojitos. Â They’re delicious.
Chicken cookies triumphant.
From Tempting Kosher Dishes, B. Manischewitz Co., 1930
2 cups matzo farfel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup schmaltz
4 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
Barley Risotto with Nettle Leaves and Wild Onions.
Last week, when we downed our sticky yet filling Nettle Pudding, we all agreed it could probably be adapted into something more appetizing.
Nettle pudding.
Nettle pudding has been declared Britain’s oldest recipe. From Epicurious.com:
***
Nettle pudding
Original recipe from Daily Mail UK Online
Ingredients
2 bunches of young nettle leaves
Any combination of 4 wild greens, such as:
bunch of sorrel
bunch of watercress
bunch of dandelion leaves
Some chives
1 cup of barley flour
1 teaspoon salt
Chop the herbs finely and mix in the barley flour and salt. Add enough water to bind it together and place in the centre of a linen or muslin cloth. Tie the cloth securely and add to a pot of simmering venison or wild boar (a pork joint will do just as well). Leave in the pot until the meat is cooked and serve with chunks of bread.
**
And I have to say, it was pretty cool to eat something very similar to what people were eating 8,000 years ago.